On Translation of English News Headlines from

the Perspective of Skopos Theory

By Zhao Yue

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

for the BA degree

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

May 2017

Acknowledgements

To begin with, I have to extend gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Li Ping, who has offered great help and careful direction in topic selection and thesis writing. After I finished the first my writing, my supervisor offered me critical suggestions including advice on the revision and professional assistance. His pursuit for perfection sets a good example for me. I wish to take this opportunity and extend my sincere gratitude to him.

Furthermore, I am grateful to all professors who give me lecturers in my undergraduate stage. I owe my dramatic improvement in professional mastery and learning ability to their strict requirement and selfless instructions, which inspire me to make self-explorations. Meanwhile, I have to give thanks to classmates and close friends who have given me great care and help in the process of my thesis writing.

Last but not least, I express gratitude to my family members, who offer me indefinite encouragement and support.

On Translation of English News Headlines from

the Perspective of Skopos Theory

Zhao Yue

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

Abstract: With the convention of G20 Summit held in Hangzhou. China expands its cooperation with other countries throughout the globe. In this modern time, the news is becoming increasingly important. News headlines, as an integral element in a piece of news, offer an important motive for readers to read through the whole piece of reports. Above all, English news headlines play a significant part in cross-cultural communication, which makes them worthwhile to be carefully chewed on. This essay is mainly divided into four parts. Firstly, an introduction is made on the relevant concepts of the news headline and the role it plays in a piece of news. Secondly, the essay discusses about the origin and development of Skopos Theory and its three major theories. Thirdly, the essay introduces three factors in translation. In the last part, the three major theories are applied in the analysis of a great number of cases and the author explores four translation approaches, literal translation, liberal translation, adaptation and interpretative translation. Although this essay has its limitations, the author hopes that it can offer some suggestions for researchers.

Key words: news headlines; news translation; skopos theory; translation strategies

摘要

随着中国召开了杭州G20峰会，中国不断地扩大与世界其他国家的合作。在这个时代里，新闻变得越来越重要。而新闻里必不可少的要素就是新闻标题。只有足够好的新闻标题才能吸引读者的兴趣从而让读者完整的看完整篇报道。总而言之,英语新闻标题有很多值得研究的地方，它在中西方文化交流中有着举足轻重的地位。本文主要介绍了四个部分：第一，本文介绍了背景知识，新闻标题的概念以及它在新闻里的功能，然后大致介绍了新闻标题的特点，第二，本文概述了目的论的起源和发展以及它的三大理论，第三，本文介绍了影响翻译的三大因素，最后运用目的论的三大理论分析大量新闻标题的例子并且探讨了四种新闻标题的翻译方法包括直译，意译，改译和阐释性翻译。本文虽然有一定局限性，但希望可以给研究者提供一些建议。

关键词：新闻标题；新闻翻译；目的论；翻译策略

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Basic Knowledge of English News Headlines 1

2.1 Definition of English News Headlines 1

2.2 The Function of News Headline 2

2.2.1 To Appeal to Readers 2

2.2.3 To Comment News 2

2.3.1 Short Words and Abbreviations 3

2.3.1.1 To Use Little Word 3

2.3.1.2 To Use Abbreviations 4

2.3.2 Ellipse 4

2.3.3 To Use Present Tense 4

2.3.4 To Use Rhetorical Device 5

3. An Introduction to Skopos 5

3.1 The Origin and Development of Skopos 5

3.2 Basic Principles of Skopos 5

3.2.1 Purpose Principle 6

3.2.2 Coherence Principle 6

3.2.3 Faithfulness Principle 6

3.2.4 Loyalty Principle 7

4. Major Factors Affecting News Translation 7

4.1 Linguistic Difference 7

4.2 Cultural Difference 8

4.3 Political Difference 8

5. Translation Strategies 8

5.1 Literal Translation 9

5.2 Liberal Translation 10

5.3 Interpretative 11

5.4 Adaptation 12

6. Conclusion 14

6.1 Major Findings 14

6.2 Limitations of this Essay 14

References 14

1. Introduction

It’s generally recognized that in the wake of the convention of G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China establishes an increasing close relationship with the west in terms of cultural communication. In this informational age, news headlines are growing notably important. The news headline, as one of the important elements in a piece of news, is the soul of news. English news headlines are thus worth special attention. Despite a good mastery of English and cross-cultural communication, many Chinese people still feel very hard to understand these news headlines. The great discrepancy in culture, language, political background as well as the living environment gives rise to the difficulty as the appetite of readers varies between different cultures, and translators have to choose translation approaches according to different purposes.

2. Basic Knowledge of English News Headlines

Whatever translation approach is adopted, the purpose of communication is inevitable. As China accelerates its pace to establish connection with various fields across the globe, English news headlines are gaining importance amid the global boom of cultural communication. The news headline is typically made up of the title, the introduction, the main body, background and the ending. By no means can be a piece of news get its title removed, for the title is the crystallized generalization of the news, highlighting the most remarkable content of news with concise words. The headlines of news help readers grasp the essence of the newspapers and spot what interests them most. Translators’ accurate understanding of the English news headline appears notably significant to guarantee a better understanding of target language readers.

2.1 Definition of English News Headlines

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